Three of the Ladies of BPAL's Grindhouse

First off, I must thank the lovely Scented Djinn, who sent me a tiny vial of boronia--distilled into a 10% solution. It's still a very elusive scent, but I really do get the raspberry and I can totally see why she'd want to use it in an eau de cologne, it's fresh and really quite lovely.

Secondly, I apologize for not updating recently. In addition to the final polishing on the novella Darkrose and I wrote, I've been having motivational issues, so yeah...sorry.

Thirdly, reviews:

Tonight it's three from BPAL's Limited Edition series Carnaval Diabolique. As part of Act IV, these are the Ladies of the Grindhouse. All the blends of the Carnaval series are accompanied by art, some of it not safe for work, so take care when you click the links.

Aeronwen -- "Fig, dark myrrh, amber, redwood, nutmeg, tarragon, black musk, and sweet orange."

It's cripser than i would have expected given the notes; my first impression is a green citrus. I assume the green comes from the tarragon, although it doesn't smell like the herb much. In the dry down I start to smell something sweeter--the fig, probably--with a slightly bitter undernote from the myrrh. Along with a dry note from the redwood, the whole thing seems almost masculine, or at least like something blended with a male wearer in mind. I like it, but it's not at all what I expected.

After about ten minutes or so, I get a faint medicinal note; it's not awful, but I'm not crazy about it either. In fact, that sums up my whole reaction to this. I've smelled things that were intended to fall into the "masculine" category that I've liked much better. There are guys I'd love to smell this on--Sean Bean maybe?--but it's not something I need more of.

Eisheth Zenunim -- "Honey, ambergris, neroli, white peach, patchouli, and cocoa absolute."

In the imp the first thing that hit me was OMGPatchouli, but once I got it on, it was mostly about the white peach and the neroli. I don't get much cocoa at first, and the patchouli is very much in the background. Then the honey kicks in and it's honeyed peaches with a little floral over it. It isn't particularly foody, but I suspect it would appeal to people who like the current sweet, fruity floral trend in mainstream perfumes. Sadly, those people? Are not me. This is just a little too twee for my tastes. Since it also reminds Darkrose of the stuff her mom used to use to straighten her hair, that's another strike against it.

Inez -- "Golden amber, vanilla musk, myrrh, cedar, carnation, and red sandalwood."

Cedar is a tricky note on me, my skin tends to amp up woods a lot and it did so with this almost from the second it hit my skin. It also amped up the sandalwood, but you don't hear me complaining about that. And underneath...oh my yes, this is nice. The vanilla musk is a nice faint undernote, and the amber is present without being too powdery. I can't get the carnation yet, I think it's probably being overpowered by the woods and, strangely enough, I don't smell that faint bitter note from the myrrh.

About ten minutes in, the cedar and sandalwood calm down a little and the whole thing becomes a very nice, almost creamy, woody scent that really works on me. I might just have to buy a bottle of this before the line goes away.

Speaking of which, the Carnaval Diabolique was going to go away in September, but in her most recent update, Beth said something about it sticking around a little longer because they're still working on the next act.

By Now I Really Know How to Spell Pomegranate -- Pomegranate Week: Day Last

Okay one final BPAL Limited Edition Pomegranate scent. And really, it's about time; I'm reaching the point where the word "pomegranate" doesn't look like a real word any more.

The Fruit of Paradise was part of the Yule '07 line. The Lab said:
"While Persephone visited the realm of Hades, she tasted one single pomegranate seed, an act which compelled her to remain connected to the Land of the Dead for all eternity. Demeter's grief over her beloved daughter's absence that brings on the bleakness and barrenness of the winter months.

The Fruit of Paradise, the Nectar of Death: bittersweet pomegranate."

First off, I always heard that it was six pomegranate seeds Persephone ate, which led to her staying with Hades one month for every seed. But never mind....

Fruit of Paradise opens with a burst of pomegranate that is very very close to Swank, if not as crisp. It's still pretty sweet, however. After a short time there's a slightly spicy note that someone on the forum said they thought was clove. Since a bitter note creeps in around the same time, I'm thinking that maybe they're right and it is clove. I had wondered if maybe it was myrrh.

Regardless, this is a pretty straightforward scent that....

Okay, I'll admit it, it totally smells like Midnight Pomegranate from Bath and Body Works. It's a little more bitter, but not much, and I get the feeling that if I were to dilute it in some perfumer's alcohol, I'd end up with Midnight Pomegranate Eau de Toilette or even the body splash.

Needless to say, it layers excellently with the B&BW products, which give it damn good staying power and a decent throw/sillage. I don't actually regret buying it--I picked it up on eBay for about what I would have paid for it if I'd bought it from the Lab--but of all the actual pomegranate oils I've got, this one is the one I could most easily do without. The "clear, fruity sweet" niche on my perfume shelf is perfectly filled by Swank, which I like more than I like Fruit of Paradise.

And so, although I actually didn't plan it this way, we've come full circle, from sweet uncomplicated pomegranate to sweet uncomplicated pomegranate. The one review I didn't repost but feel I should link to is Loreto Aromatica's custom blend Ruth, which features pomegranate as one of its top notes.

* * *

Next up, I'm getting as far from sweet fruit as I can. Tomorrow, I'll be reviewing Tauer Perfumes Vetiver Dance.

Row Faster Guys, and Feed Me Some Pomegranate Seeds -- Pomegrante Week: Day Two

It's still Tuesday as far as I'm concerned--I keep very late hours--and so here's the second day of Pomegranate week.

Today I'm writing up The Flower Song, a BPAL Limited Edition from the Lupercalia '08 Love Poems Collection.

The Lab said: "Unknown, Written during Egypt's New Kingdom
To hear your voice is pomegranate wine to me:
I draw life from hearing it.
Could I see you with every glance,
It would be better for me
Than to eat or to drink.

Pomegranate wine, lotus root, river reeds, hyssop, and barley."

My initial impression was a blast of thick sweet pomegranate. Two years ago at Thanksgiving, I made something called pomegrante molasses, which involved boiling down several cups of pomegrante juice into a thick syrup, which I used to baste a pair of Cornish Game Hens--Darkrose and I don't like turkey. If I'd added about a cup and a half of sugar to the juice before boiling it, the end product would have smelled a lot like this. At first it's a little much, even for me.

Fortunately, it calms down some and there's a little bit of a green note, which I assume is the lotus root. There's also a faint winey note, but not enough to make you think you've spilled your drink. A little while later, some toasted cereal creeps in underneath the thickness and helps smooth things out.

After than, it doesn't morph much. It's a slightly thick, smooth pomegranate wine. One of my early and persistent BPAL favorites is Swank, the Lab's pomegranate martini blend. While that one is sweet but sharp with the gin note, this is sweet and a little syrupy and should be worn on your barge on the Nile while pretty, mostly naked girls (or guys according to your inclination) fan you. If you live somewhere other than ancient Egypt, I'd say wear this in the fall or winter when you need something comforting and a little thick.

It's got staying power for days and a pretty good throw/sillage.

While it's a Limited Edition, it's recent enough that it's still available on either the BPAL forums or eBay.

BPAL -- Snake Oil and Three from the Snake Pit

All BPAL today.

Snake Oil -- "By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla."

Reviewing BPAL's Snake Oil is kind of like reviewing Chanel No. 5; everyone's had a go at it and most people who will be reading the review have probably already got a bottle in their possession. Which kind of makes me wonder whatever happened to my duty-free bottle of No. 5, but it would be just about 30 years old now and anyway, I digress. I ordered this because I loved one of the the Snake Pit scents (which are Snake Oil with extras) and wanted to see if it was the Snake Oil part I loved or that plus the extras.

At first sniff in the bottle, Snake Oil is pure headshop, right down to what I'd swear is a faint bit of patchouli, although most reviews don't mention it. The minute I get it on my skin, even before the dry down, the vanilla shows up. It is not a foody vanilla at all, but a sweet incensey scent, with a nice spicey background.

About 10 minutes in, I get powder, which makes me suspect that one of the Indonesian oils is amber. Strangely enough that faint hint of patchouli is gone gone gone, leaving me to wonder if it was ever there in the first place. What I've got now is an ambery, powdery vanilla, which I like but which isn't wowing me.

In the end, after about a half hour, the powder has faded down to acceptable levels and this is a nice, slightly spicey, slightly ambery, slightly dark vanilla, with pretty good staying power and a decent throw. I like it and I'm happy enough to have a big bottle, but honestly, I don't really think it's all that and a bag of chips. This seems to be common with me and BPAL; I'm usually only mildly enthused over the blends that most people love like crazy. I actually think I like the Temple Viper better.

It's always interesting when someone calls a perfume "sexual" because you have to wonder who its aimed at. The "normal" assumption is that it's sexy on women in a way men will like--yay heteronormative society! In fact, the reason you see so many vanilla scents these days is that recent surveys have shown that men find vanilla to be a very sexy smell. I wonder if any surveys have been done on what women like to smell on other women. What I'm trying to get at is: this smells good, but I don't know that if I smelled it on some random woman on the street I'd want to jump her. Darkrose will be home in a couple of hours; I'll have to see if she likes it.

Three short reviews of the Snake Pit, Act III of Carnaval Diabolique, which will be available until September '08. These were originally done for a forum and on the run; this is what a quick review looks like.

Australian Copperhead -- Snake Oil with acai berry, amber, cardamom, neroli, and smoked vanilla.

In imp and wet on me -- bright, sweet/tart berry!

Five minutes in -- Oddly enough it's got a faint "green" note to it although it's still mostly the berry.

Twenty minutes it -- now I get the amber and a little hint of the vanilla underneath the green/berry scent. This is nice and bright, "fun" scent. It's not very me though; I was hoping for more amber/cardomom/smoked vanilla than acai berry.

Green Tree Viper -- Snake Oil with four mints, bergamot and green tea.

In imp and wet on me -- Mmmmm...sweet mint green tea.

Dry down and five minutes in -- For once, this doesn't morph much; it smells just like it does in the imp. And, even though I put on lotion just before testing, I can tell that this is already fading.

Twenty minutes in -- It's mostly the mint now and even that is faint. :(

Overall Impression -- I really like it, but like most tea and/or mint scents, it's gone way too fast.

Temple Viper -- Snake Oil with sugar cane, frankincense, champaca, opoponax, labdanum, and hyssop.

In imp and wet -- Dry and resiny with a sweet undernote.

Dry down and five minutes in -- Oh my, this is nice. It's got the dry/incense notes of some of her scents like Cathedral along with the added sweet of the sugar cane and the vanilla.

Twenty minutes in -- It's smoothed out now and I really really love it. All sugary and incensey. Not sure I like it $20 worth but man, am I tempted.

BPAL LE reviews and yes, another auction

So, I promised some reviews today and I fully intend to do them now that it's a little cooler--our a/c is on the fritz and it's been pretty warm in the house today.

I actually put up two more things in the Live Long N Marry auction, things that are actually relevant to this blog: two BPAL LEs. It seems a little counter-intuitive to review things I didn't like but am trying to get someone to buy, but hey, what doesn't work for me will work for someone else.

Love's Philosophy (Lupercalia 2008; vanilla, saffron and cream). Forum post with descriptions and reviews and my auction post -- Saffron and vanilla...oh this should have been right up my alley. My first sniff gave me the impression of a very buttery, and kind of warm, vanilla, like maybe a vanilla glaze type frosting made with butter. Then, sadly, the cream note hits. This was the last time I bought anything with a cream note because it was pretty much confirmation that I simply can't wear cream accords; they just smell weird and artificial on me. For the most part, this isn't a problem; I don't normally like the extremely foody scents. Drinky scents, yes, but I don't really want to smell like a cupcake unless I'm eating one.

Numb (July of 2005, no notes given, pale, cool, powdery floral). Forum post with descriptions and reviews and my auction post. -- Beth at BPAL had originally planned to release this as part of the '05 Yultide Edition but then there was a horrible heat wave in LA and she released it in July.

Trying to review a perfume when none of the notes are listed is a tricky business and it's always interesting to go to the forum and read the things people come up with. I ordered this hoping for something cold and minty--Sacramento was in the middle of the same heat wave LA was--but what I got instead was a very powdery floral. It is actually a cool "feeling" scent, but I'm a child of the '70s and powder always makes me think either of my grandmother or of Love's Baby Soft*, and I'd really rather not smell like either.


**Good Lord, they still sell Love's Baby Soft although I bet they don't use the creepy ad they did back then.

BPAL's Lunar Update and some thoughts on the BPAL business model

So for some reason or other, there are two Lunar blends available from BPAL this month. Normally the Lunacy LEs don't interest me much, in most cases if I want anything from those updates, it's the shirts. But this month....

Hay Moon (which I totally want to spell Hai Moon) -- Hay absolute, tall grasses, dry honey, mallow, cardamom, amber, and wheat.

Mead Moon -- Golden mead, fermented with gruit, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ginger root, sweet-briar, rosemary, and lemon.

Hay Moon sounds good (cardamom is one of those notes that I adore) and Mead Moon sounds fantastic. Sadly, I've pretty much blown the sweetly-scented portion of budget for the month. Of course, there are the decant circles where I could pick up an imp, but then you run the risk of falling in love with an LE that's no longer available.

Which brings me to my thoughts on LEs (let me show you them).

I really have problems with the whole Limited Edition thing. I understand it from a retail point of view, but that doesn't mean that I like it from a consumer stand point. There's this Pokemom mentality that's all too easy to get caught up in.

I don't think there's anything wrong with spending money to collect perfume, it's just that the whole "gotta get 'em all" mentality confuses me at times. I can't wear anything with rose or cream accord, which means a lot of Beth's (or anyone else's) blends are right out for me and I can't imagine why I'd buy everything in an update if I couldn't wear half of the blends.

I've never asked anyone who does this because it seems like a judgmental question, but it's not really. I just wonder....